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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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A Short Sketch 


OF THE 


LIFE AND CONVERSION 


OF 


A JEW. 

1 
■ 1 r 
1 

! i 


WRITTEN BY HIMSELF 

i 


! 

i 

• 

New York : 

JAMES HFGGrNS, PRINTER, 372 PEARL ST. 



1876. 



PRICE 25 CENTS. 



A Short Sketch 



OF THE 



LIFE AND CONVERSION 



OF 



A JEW. 






WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. 






New York : 

JAMES HUGGINS, PRINTER, 372 PEARL ST. 
1876. 



--gN/^ta'*' 3 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand eight 
hundred and seventy-six, 

By M. L. KOSSVALLY, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



DEDICATION. 






June 6, 1876. 
To the Hon. W. E. Dodge. 

Dear Sir : I appreciate your great kindness in allowing 
me to dedicate niy little book to yourself. 

The philanthropy you possess, and which you so nobly 
exercise for the benefit of your fellow-men, wins for you the 
admiration of all persons that are cognizant of your good 
deeds in the cause of our blessed Lord and Master Jesus 
Christ. 

I know you are anxious to see my book succeed. I 
pray God that it may prove a lasting blessing wherever it 
goes, and that its contents may be the good seed sown into 
good ground, bringing forth a plentiful harvest into the 
garner of our Lord. This you will greatly help to achieve 
by allowing yourself to become the godfather of this my 
first child, and the nurture that it receives thereby will be 
a guarantee for its future welfare, especially amongst my 
own people, the Jews ; and if it is the means of leading 
some of my unbelieving brethren to Jesus the Messiah, it 
will accomplish the purpose for which it is written. 

My prayer to God is that he will ever keep you under 
the shadow of His wing, guide you through life by His 
unerring counsel, and that at last you will meet in heaven 

THE AUTHOR. 



TO THE READER. 



•For three reasons I have written this little book : 

The first is to show the goodness of God in bringing me 
from the dark night of Judaism into the marvelous light and 
love of Jesus ; and that the recital of my experience may 
be the means of bringing many of my brethren, the Jews, 
to Christ, the despised Nazarene, for a present and a full 
salvation. 

The second reason is, that, taking no pecuniary remu- 
neration from the churches that I visit, I must rely upon 
the sale of my book for funds to defray my expenses in 
traveling and working for Jesus. 

And my third reason is that I wish to build* a small 
Tabernacle in the City of New York for converted Jews to 
worship in. 

I have inaugurated meetings in New York City, which are 
well attended by persons of all denominations, and great 
good is being done there. My ambition is to erect a House 
for God without any donations of money, but simply by my 
own exertions and God's blessing on the work. 

I would respectfully suggest that some of my Christian 
friends should purchase a few copies of my book for 
gratuitous distribution, especially among the Jews, who 
will read them when given, but will not buy them for 
themselves. 

M. L. K. 



KECOMMENDATIONS. 



Parsonage, Fleet Street, June 1, 1876. 

It affords me great pleasure to certify to the zeal and 
usefulness of Brother Max. L. Kossvally, who addressed our 
people, much to their profit, on last Sabbath evening. I 
most heartily commend him to the clergy everywhere, as a 
most useful evangelist, and as worthy of full confidence. 

(Signed) W. C. Steele, 

Pastor Fleet Street M. E. Church, Brooklyn. 

I fully endorse the above. 

E. H. Gray, D.D. 
Washington, D. C, 



From Rev. Charles Little. 

Hackettstown, N. J., June 5, 1876. 

Having listened with much pleasure to the experience of 
M. L. Rossvally, a converted Jew, I most heartily com- 
mend bis pamphlet, " A Short Sketch of the Life and Con- 
version of a Jew," to the public, and hope the book will bo 
very much blessed by the Holy Spirit in leading many to 
the Lord Jesus Christ, 



PREFACE. 



To my Dear Readers : 

A friend recently asked me if I was going to 
preach at Keyport, New Jersey. My answer 
to him was an anecdote that Mr. Rancour told 
me, and perhaps will not be out of place if I 
give it here : ' ' There was an old Indian, named 
Jim, at a country tavern, whose occupation 
might be termed general usefulness. After a 
lapse of ten years, a gentleman happened again 
to stop at this house, and saw the same old 
Jim there. 'Well, Jim, are you about yet V 
asked the gentleman. 'What on earth are 
you doing nowadays for a living ? ' ' Well, I 
don't know,' answered Jim, ' I cut wood, fetch 
water, hold horses for strangers, make a fire in 
lawyer Bingham's office, and sometimes / 
preach.' 'Preach, ha! How much do you 
get for preaching V 'A shilling, ' says Jim. 
' Well, now, don' t y ou think that is poor pay ? ' 
' Yes, but it is poor preach^ " 

I am not a preacher, and 1 am not a lecturer. 
My story I tell to my fellow-creatures to win 
them, if possible, to the dear Saviour I have 
found. The happiness which I feel, I want to 
make known, that others may have a feast of 
the spiritual food that I enjoy. My dear 
reader, will you assist me to spread the glad 
tidings that are contained in this little book? 



IV 



After reading it, will you lend it to your friend ? 
It may be the grain of seed sown in the good 
ground, and be the means of bringing some 
soul to the garner of our Lord. "He that 
winneth souls, is wise." What Jesus has 
done for me, a wicked, unbelieving Israelite, 
He will do for all who will accept Him as their 
Saviour. If this book is the means of bringing 
only one soul to Christ, it will not be "poor 
preach. " Wonderful are the effects produced 
on a person by a kind word, a loving smile, or a 
friendly recognition. These things are not 
" poor preach," but the true essence of good- 
ness. Let us help each other onward in our 
journey to the better land. We are ever going 
forward, either in good works or evil deeds. 
We are either exalting Christ, or we are deny- 
ing Him. Do not let your example be against 
Him, but " Let your light so shine before men, 
that they may see your good works, and 
glorify your Father which is in heaven." Take 
Him as your guiding star. 

" The beacon burns brightly if we only look to it, 
The night may be dark, but our Saviour will guide, 
The storms in their fury will drive us close to it, 
And there safely anchor'd, we may ever abide." 

My prayer to God is, my dear reader, that 
you will read this book prayerfully, and if it 
leads you nearer to that brightly burning beacon 
that diffuses its light over the benighted souls 
of men, it lyill not be written in vain. 

M. L. R. 

New York, May 10th, 1876. 






INDEX. 



Page. 

Early Life, 

Strict Observance of Kites and Ceremonies, 10 

Visiting the Old Home, • 11 

Finding a Wife, 12 

Regimental Surgeon, 13 

The Dying Soldiers, 14 

Excessive Drinking, 15 

Meeting Charles E. Rancour, 16 

Leaves Albany for Washington, 17 

Under Conviction of Sin, 18 

Seeking and Finding, 19 

Oh, Leave Me Not Alone, 20, 21 

Going to Work in the Lord's Vineyard, 22 

Scoffed at and called a Fanatic, 23 

A Brand Plucked from the Burning, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 

The Enquiry Room, 20 

A Hat Thrown in my Face, 30 

Conversion of a Brother and Sister, 31 

Leaves Washington for JSTew York, 32 

At the Hippodrome, 33 

Mr. Moody, 34 

Jerry McCauley's Helping Hand, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 

Dressed for the Ball, 41 

The Captain of a Slave Ship, 42, 43 

A Little Talk with Jesus 44 

An Aged Christian 45 

A Prayer Meeting on the Mountain-Top, 46 



(Index, Continued.) 

Finding a Diamond of the First Water, 47 

The Torpedoes, 48 

The Efficacy of Prayer, ..49 

A Frozen Meeting, 50 

Prayer Answered on the Spot, 51 

My First Union Meeting for Converted Jews in New York, 52 

Our Second Meeting, 53 

Interesting Experience, 54 

Esther King, 55, 56, 57 

A Good Work, 58 

Sarah Hymes, the Converted Jewess, 59 

The Love of Christ, 60, 61 

Conclusion, 62,63,64,65,66 



A CONVERTED JEW, 



THE NIGHT AND THE MORNING. 



From the wilds of Judea, there came forth a stranger, 
All filthy and torn were the clothes that he wore ; 

He told a sad tale that his life was "in danger, 
And the marks of his grief on his visage he bore. 

His full heart sank low, as he thought on hi& sadness, 
Of no hope for the future, no gain from the past, 

And his brain in a fever was yielding to madness, 
As dark visions were passing terrific and fast. 

Footsore and dejected he sat by the way, 

No friend had the stranger to welcome him home, 

And through the dark night in that place he did stay 
And mourn o'er his sorrows, an outcast alone. 

Restless he lay while the storm-wraith was shrieking, 
And fierce was the blast in its sweep o'er the hill ; 

His couch on the ground with the rain-fall was reeking, 
And his limbs were disjointed and stiff with the chill. 



8 

Sad was his fate in that desolate region, 

And harsh were the sounds that his pain'd ear did 
greet ; 

Xo refuge he found in his people's religion, 

For Sinai's thunderings would make him retreat. 

Ah ! where can a sinner find a covert secure, 

To hide his doonrd head from the force of the blast ? 

The deep sense of conviction he cannot endure, 
Without help from on high, till its fury is past. 

Anon, the black clouds in their pathway were riven, 
And brightly one star gleamed away in the sky ; 

The dawn of the morning the darkness had driven, 
And the howl of the tempest before it did fly. 

And Xature, exhausted, was peacefully resting, 
For a calm had now fell where the storm-wraith 
had been ; 

Xo more were dark visions the stranger molesting, 
And tranquil he sat as he gazed on the scene. 

His heart swelPd with joy as the glad birds were singing, 
And his face wore a smile that it knew not before ; 

The flowers on the air their perfume were flinging, 
And he resolved to go back to Judea no more. 

Oh! dark is the soul when the sin-wraith is raging, 
And relentless the strife when conviction is there, 

Till faith in the Saviour its sorrow assuaging, 

And takes the cleansed heart from the depths of 
despair. 



NARRATIVE 



My Early Life. 



I was born at Wurtemberg, in Germany, on 
the 17th day of August, 1828. My father was 
a merchant in the general dry-goods- trade, was 
of fair standing with his townspeople, a strict 
observer of the Mosaic law, and the first officer 
of the synagogue which belonged to the 
orthodox Jews of that place. 

At a very early age, I was taught to curse 
the name of Jesus Christ, and to spit upon a 
statue or picture that represented Him, and 
was told that He was the illegitimate child of a 
lewd woman. 

At school I learned to read the "Torah," or 
the five books of Moses, in Hebrew and German, 
and was also taught the French language. 

In America, there are a great many Jews 
that cannot read Hebrew. Recently I attended 
a mission room, in Baxter Street, New York 
City, conducted by a young German lady. 



10 Strict Observance of Rites and Ceremonies. 

There were about forty Jewish children present 
who could not read or translate Hebrew into 
English. They were taught by their parents 
to say prayers in Hebrew, but did not know 
the meaning of the words they used. 

At the age of fourteen years, I went to an 
academy to prepare myself for entering the 
University of Hiedelberg, and there I grad- 
uated a Doctor of Medicine. But here my 
early training showed itself. My father had 
taught me to drink wine when I was very 
young, and here I drank freely of wine and 
lager-beer, which proved a great curse to me, 
and I became a slave to this vicious appetite. 
But thanks be to God, He has taken away that 
desire, and now I have not the least appetite 
for those poisonous compounds. 

Whilst under my father's jurisdiction, I had 
to attend the synagogue three times a day, and 
was severely punished if I neglected to place 
any portion of the Phylacteries or Frontlets 
on my arms or forehead. Neither did I, while 
at the University, forget the rites imposed upon 
me by him. The efficacy of those things, as 
affecting the salvation of my soul, I never 
thought of. It was the religion of my fathers, 
and I was content therewith. I never forgot to 
kiss the " Messusah" on passing through a 
door- way. But this I must explain to my 
readers. On the right hand side of the doors, 
fastened to the wall, is a small tin box about 
four inches long, one inch wide and half an 



Visiting iJie Old Home. 11 

inch deep, containing a piece of parchment 
with writing on it, and on this little box there 
is a face about the size of a one cent coin ; this 
piece of parchment every orthodox Jew kisses 
on entering or leaving a room. These things I 
now look upon as the greatest folly, and wonder 
why people in this enlightened age can adhere 
to those ancient rites. But the dawning of a 
brighter day is shedding its life-giving beams 
over the Children of Israel, who are flocking to 
the standard of the cross, and finding there 
their own Messiah. 

I was engaged twice to be married to a Jewess, 
but the Lord, in His providence, saw fit to 
frustrate these arrangements. In 1850 or '51, 
I had been traveling in this country, and on my 
return to my father s house, my parents wished 
me to marry a young woman of their acquaint- 
ance. My father went to the lady's father to 
trade for his daughter. Negotiations were en- 
tered into, according to the custom of our 
people, and my father stipulated that for the 
sum of five thousand florins paid to me^ I 
should marry the young woman. 3,500 florins 
were offered and refused, but at last 4,500 florins 
was the sum agreed upon, and I went to visit 
my affianced bride. But picture my dismay, 
when I found her to be a most illiterate creature. 
She had received no education whatever, and 
her manners were extremely coarse. I could 
not possibly take a wife of that character after 
having seen the refined and beautiful ladies of 



12 Finding a Wife. 

America, and consequently I left my child- 
hood's home again. My second attempt at 
matrimony was in Kentucky, but as I was des- 
tined not to marry into Judaism, this engage- 
ment was also broken off, and I married a 
young lady of French descent, and of the 
Roman Catholic faith. Here, also, I had ob- 
stacles to surmount, before I could be married. 
The priest would not perform the ceremony 
until I promised, that if we had children, they 
should be baptised and brought up in the 
Roman Catholic church, and that I would not 
interfere with my wife in her attendance at 
mass, or the other services of the church. 

At that time it did not matter to me to what 
church we went ; I was quite willing, at all 
times, to give them any help I could in their 
performances, and to behave as a respectable 
citizen should do while there. The Virgin I 
could gaze on without thinking of her impurity, 
and could view the image of the infant Jesus 
without spitting upon it, or troubling my head 
about his illegitimacy. I became of some use 
in the services of the church, by joining in the 
singing of the Te Deum or the Gloria Excelsis, 
as the case might be. These things were not 
unnoticed by the priest, who thought to make 
a proselyte of me, and asked me to become a 
Roman Catholic. But my answer was, "How 
can I believe in your religion, with its mum- 
meries, when I do not believe my own, with its 
ancient traditions?" But God, in His infinite 









Regimental Surgeon. 13 

mercy, was reserving me for better things than 
the blood of bulls, and of goats, and the ashes 
of an heifer, or the absolutions of priestcraft. 
It was to be the regeneration of my soul in the 
precious blood of Jesu^, and the forgiveness of 
my sins through His atonement. 

For many years I practiced as a physician, 
in this country, and when the civil war broke 
out, I was commissioned as a surgeon in the 
United States Volunteers, and served as such 
during the war. While there, I had many op- 
portunities of seeing the effect of Christianity 
on men in the hour of danger and death. At 
that time, the Rev. Mr. M. Pierce, Chaplain of 
one of the New York Regiments, would fre- 
quently talk to me on the subject of religion, 
and urge me to become a Christian. I would 
listen to him patiently, and admire his con- 
sistency. 

On the field, after the battle of the Wilderness, 
one evening, in front of the regimental hospital, 
a captain of the same regiment, and an infidel, 
who denied the existence of God, invited me to 
play a game of dominoes with him. The stakes 
were these : if I won the game, I was to have 
his share of Christ, and if he won it, he was to 
take ail my Moses and his own Christ. It so 
happened that I won the game, and gave him 
back his Christ. While we were playing, tin 1 
chaplain came by, and we told him what the 
stakes were that we were playing for. He 
lifted his eyes in silent prayer for awhile, and 



14 Tiie Dying Soldiers. 

then began to pray for us both, that our blas- 
phemy might be forgiven. The captain, crest- 
fallen, cast his eyes on the ground, and I in- 
voluntarily let the dominoes fall from my 
hands. - This pains my heart to tell it, but it 
shows my utter depravity at that time. 

I have seen, on many of the fields of battle, 
soldiers die in a most wretched condition, some 
with curses on their lips, and others I have seen 
pass away to the better world rejoicing in a 
Saviour s love, and before their last moment 
arrived, they have taken from their pockets a 
Bible, and other religious books, requesting 
them to be sent to their friends, with their 
farewell prayers for them. 

One soldier in particular, whose limb I was 
amputating, would not allow me to put him 
under the influence of chloroform, but just be- 
fore he died, sang sweetly, "I'm going home 
to die no more,'' and his face shone with an 
inexpressible radiance, as he fell asleep in Jesus; 
he was a true soldier of the Redeemer. At 
that time these things made a slight impression 
upon me, but their influence soon passed away ; 
still I could not doubt the reality of the Chris- 
tian religion. The most lasting impressions 
made upon my mind at that time, were by 
some Eastern State soldiers, who were convales- 
cent at the hospital of which I had charge ; 
they would come and bring their Bibles with 
them, and ask me to join them in prayer ; this 
sometimes had a great effect upon me, and 



Excessive Drinking. 15 

often brought tears into my eyes, which was 
only momentary, as the sympathy I felt was 
not for Christ, but with the soldiers. The great 
blessings I have experienced since that time, I 
might have enjoyed then, had my rebellious 
heart yielded, and accepted the offers of pardon 
so freely held out to me. It is a mercy indeed 
that the Holy Spirit of God, who so often strove 
with me, and whom I resisted again and again, 
did not take his everlasting flight from me, and 
leave me to my wickedness ; surely I am a 
monument of divine grace, and the long-suffer- 
ing of God has been wonderfully exhibited to 
me. About the close of the war, I was sent by 
General Sheridan, to Galveston, Texas, in charge 
of one of the yellow fever hospitals. At that 
place, I saw officers and soldiers die by scores. 
This sometimes had a great effect upon me, es- 
pecially when the chaplains were ministering 
consolation to the sufferers, and pointing them 
to Christ, the Saviour of the world ; the tears 
would flow freely down my cheeks, so that I 
could not disguise my emotion ; but like a 
person determined on his ruin, I always tried 
to stifle that feeling by drinking brandy or 
whiskey, and so I went on drinking every day. 
Still I was not a confirmed drunkard, but that 
was not my fault, for spirituous liquors had 
lost their effect upon me, and I could drink 
enough to make two ordinary men drunk with- 
out being intoxicated. I have taken pledge 
after pledge, that I would drink no mor< 



16 Meets with Mr. C. E. Rancour. 

sometimes I would abstain for a week, and 
sometimes two weeks, and then drink harder 
than ever. My wife often begged me to give 
up drinking, and to form a resolution not to 
drink, and adhere to it. I promised her I 
would do so, but my promises were quickly 
broken, and when I did abstain, the prostra- 
tion arising therefrom was so great, that she 
would advise me to take a little brandy, to 
give tone to my system, and stop my nervous- 
ness, but thanks be to Gfod, that appetite is all 
taken away from me now. 

At this rate I was going to perdition as fast 
as time could take me. On the night of the 
9th February, 1876, a dear Christian man, Mr. 
Charles E. Rancour, of Albany, a Superintend- 
ent of a Sabbath School and Mission, invited 
me to come to the Mission room, to sing. I went 
there, and during the service, he asked the 
friends present to pray for me, that I might 
become a Christian, as I was going away South. 
After the service was ended, Mr. R. stood in 
front of the Delavan House with me, knowing 
the time I was to leave Albany, and there we re- 
mained, from two to three hours, in the most 
intense cold, with the thermometer below zero ; 
I was nearly frozen, yet he held me spell-bound, 
while he told me of the love of Christ, and of 
His willingness to save even the vilest of sin- 
ners, and of the efficacy of His blood, that 
cleanses from all sin, and all who believe in 
Christ will enjoy a present salvation. I thought 






Leaves Albany for Washi?igton. 17 

if this stranger would work like this for Christ, 
on such a night, there must be something real 
in Christianity. At that time I could not realize 
it, but now, day and night, I would gladly 
work for the same Master. Working for Him 
is more than my meat and drink. 

The words that the dear brother spoke to me 
rang in my ears, and are still ringing there, 
and will ring through all eternity. He wished 
me good-bye, and with tears in his eyes, he 
tightly grasped my hand, pressed it with true 
brotherly love, and said : "I am going to pray 
for you, that you may find in Jesus the same 
precious Saviour I have found, before you 
reach Washington." I have often thought 
why it is that I love dear brother Rancour so 
much. Well, I must say, I love him far more 
than any brother I have in the flesh. Perhaps 
the Christians who read this will understand it, 
when I tell them that this man put me in the 
way to find Jesus, who loved me even unto 
death. Then why should I not love him, 
when I so love the one he introduced me to \ 
He is never contented unless he is working for 
Christ. 

All the way to New York City, and from 
there to Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia 
to Baltimore, there was an unaccountable va- 
cancy which the world could not supply. It 
was my hungering soul seeking food, that 
alone could be satisfied with the bread of life. 
On my arrival at Washington, I happened to 



18 Under Convictions of Sin. 

pick up a newspaper, and the first thing that 
met my eye, was a notice of a revival meeting, 
conducted by the Rev. E. P. Hammond, the 
revivalist, and Mr. Bendley, to be held that 
evening. A prompting voice constrained me to 
go to the Congregational Church, Dr. Rankin, 
Pastor. There I heard Mr. Hammond preach. 
During the service I could not forget Mr. Ran- 
cour' s words, as they came rolling through my 
mind. Tears of contrition flowed from my 
eyes. I tried to restrain them, but they would 
not stop. I did not use my pocket-handker- 
chief, fearing to draw attention to my emotion, 
and my tears came faster, as the fountain of 
my eyes was in sympathy with my lacerated 
heart, and I knew not what to do. 

" Oh where can a sinner find a covenant secure, 
To hide his doomed head from the force of the blast ? 

The deep sense of conviction, he cannot endure, 
Without help from on high, till its fury is past." 

I determined to leave the Church, and drown 
my convictions in brandy. As I reached the 
door, going out, my attention was arrested by 
the singing of " Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." 
This was the Jesus I was longing to find, but 
my rebellious heart would not yield to Him. 
At that moment a Christian lady, Mrs. Young, 
who had been watching me, came and caught 
me by the coat, and asked me if I was going 
away? " Don't you see I am?" I said. 
" Well you must not go, I want to speak with 
you. " She requested me to sit by her 



Seeking and Finding. 19 

side, and she knelt down and prayed for me. 
I felt a dreadful choking sensation, as if my 
heart was bursting. I remember having felt 
such a sensation once before, on leaving my 
dear mother, when I tried to say good-bye to 
her, but the words could not find utterance. 
After a while I left the Church, with a full de- 
termination of taking some brandy to drive 
away these feelings. I got in front of a rum 
shop, but there was a strange restraining power 
that prevented me going into it, and held me 
back so that I could not get inside. I went home 
to my own room, closed the door, turned off 
the gas, and there, in a corner, fell on my knees, 
for the first time in my life, I addressed myself 
direct to Jesus, and I prayed. 

" Oh ! Lord, Jesus Christ, if thou art the Mes- 
siah that I am looking for — if thou art the 
Saviour of mankind — reveal thyself to me this 
night. Take away this darkness, and enlighten 
my mind, and let me feel that peace and con- 
solation that thy children feel. Take away this 
terrible appetite and evil passion, and I will 
serve thee while I live. Hear my prayer, oh ! 
Lord, Jesus, and cleanse my soul from sin, for 
thy dear name's sake." 

OH, LEAVE ME NOT ALONE. 

My life is filled with sad regru; 

Xo peace attends my way : 
Each day the sun in darkness sets. 

Oh, hear me, Lord. T pray 



OH, LEAVE ME NOT ALONE. 



Softly, p 



Words and Music by M. L. R. 



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0A, Leave Me Xot Alone. 21 

Oh, let me nor in darkness rove, 

But melt my heart of stone ; 
Accept my faint attempts at love, 
And fix my heart on things above ; 
" Come Holy Spirit, heavenly dove/ 1 

Oh, leave me not alone. 

Indulgent God of love and power, 

To Thee for help I fly ; 
Be with me at this solemn hour, 

And hear my contrite sigh. 
Kenew my heart and be my guide 

To Thy celestial throne ; 
Oh, let me see Thy wounded side; 
I come to Thee, the crucified: 
Lord, condescend to be my guide, 

Oh, leave me not alone. 



My heart with inward horror shrinks ; 

I feel this load of sin ; 
Far from the shadow of Thy wings, 

All darkness is within. 
Now take me, Lord, into Thy care, 

And melt my heart of stone. 
My load is more than I can bear, 
And Thou didst not disdain to hear 
The publican, in fervent prayer; 

Oh, leave me not alone. 

I know Thou canst not let me go, 

Thy blood for me was shed : 
Now let me sink beneath its flow, 

And raise me from the dead, 
And bid me stretch my withered arm 

To Thee, whose love is shown, 
And grasp Thy mantle, with its charm 
To t*ike from death its dread alarm, 
And then, reclining on "Chine arm, 

I shall not be alone. 



22 Going to Work in the Lord's Vineyard. 

For about two hours and a half, I was on 
my knees and bed alternately, and could no; 
sleep, and though that night was exceedingly 
cold, and no fire in my room, yet drops of sweat 
poured over me, as if I had been placed before 
a heated furnace ; my breast felt as if I was 
screwed in a vise, until half -past 2 o'clock 
Saturday morning. 

At last, light, glorious light illumined my 
benighted soul, and I was filled with joy, and 
love, and peace. I became a new creature in 
Christ Jesus. I went into the street to proclaim 
the joyful tidings, and though I breathed the 
same air, ate the same food, and wore the same 
clothes, yet everything seemed changed and 
new to me. I wanted to shake hands with every- 
body, and make everybody feel as I felt. I was 
not contented to have all this happiness alone; 
I w r anted others to share it w r ith me. 

The second day after I found Jesus, the Rev. 
Mr. Hammond wanted some out-of-door meet- 
ings held, and for that purpose he got on horse- 
back and rode to the corner of Pennsylvania 
Avenue and Seventh Street. There we procured 
a dry goods box ; Mr. H. addressed the people 
from his horse ; we sang two or three hymns, 
offered prayer, and invited the people to come 
to Lincoln Hall, where the morning meetings 
were held. This was on Monday. That evening, 
at the Congregational Church, Mr. Hammond 
invited me to take charge of the out-of-door 
meeting. Next morning, I accordingly (on 



Scoffed at and called a Fanatic. 23 

Tuesday A. M.) went to the aforesaid place, and 
there # found the dry goods box. At eleven 
o'clock, the hour appointed for the meeting, I 
mounted the box. There was no person near, 
but a boot-black, and to him I gave five cents, 
to stand there and listen to me. I commenced 
my service by singing "Jesus lover of my soul," 
and before I got through with the second verse 
I had about 300 persons around me, many 
of whom were Jews. When they heard 
me say that I had found the Messiah, they 
laughed at and scoffed at me ; they said that I 
was a fool, was crazy, and a fanatic, and that I 
was paid for coming there. Had some one, 
four or five days before that time, offered me 
all the money in the Treasury of Washington 
to stand up and face an audience of that kind 
in a public street, with a dry goods box for a 
pulpit, I could not have done it ; but thanks be 
to my blessed Master, who gave to Saul of Tarsus 
power to proclaim the unsearchable riches of 
Christ, who before his conversion, had been a 
great persecutor and blasphemer, this same Jesus 
gave to me the requisite strength to speak to that 
assembly of Jews and Gentiles. I said to them, 
if to love and serve such a precious Saviour as 
mine is fanaticism, then I am a fanatic ; and I 
prayed that all who heard me that morning, and 
I pray that all who may read this book, may 
become the subjects of a like fanaticism. And 
as for my being paid, thank God, no one g< 
into His vineyard without receiving an ample 



24 A Brand Flacked from the Burning. 

and a lasting reward. The promises to his 
servants are sure and steadfast : u Lo, I am with 
with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world." " Thy bread shall be given thee, and 
thy water shall be sure." "Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of 
life." And then comes the great pay day : 
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
Kingdom prepared for you from before the 
foundation of the world." 

If the preaching of Christ to degraded sinners 
be fanaticism, this fanaticism shall be my great- 
est boast, and my rejoicing all the day. Oh, 
may it show itself in my intercourse with men, 
and ever dwell upon my tongue ! I do not 
wonder at men of the world, who know nothing 
of the blessed change that takes place in a man 
when the Holy Spirit takes possession of his 
heart, and he shows the wonderful transforma- 
tion that has passed over him, setting him down 
as a fanatic, a fool, and as being crazy. No one 
can understand the new birth until it is exper- 
ienced. The joy is such as was not realized 
before ; the vicious temper is subdued, and the 
meekness of the lamb takes its place ; the 
vulture becomes a dove. To myself, before I 
received the blessing of forgiveness, it was a 
problem I could not solve, and often wondered 
what the strange power could be, that showed 
its influence so lovingly in Christians ; but now, 
glory be to God, I know it by experience, 
having passed from death unto life. I am 






A Brand Plucked from the Burning. 25 

willing to be counted a fanatic, while I am 
permitted to unfold the glorious truths of the 
Gospel of Christ, and a fool, while I have such 
rich supplies of heavenly wisdom, and crazy, 
while I have Jesus for my Great Physician, 
my brother, and my guide. 

About four or five days after my conversion, 
Lmet, at the Baltimore & Ohio depot, a Mr. B., 
a young man about 23 years of age. He was try- 
ing to get into a carriage while in a state of drunk- 
enness. I noticed that he had got his foot on a 
spoke of a wheel instead of the step. I went up 
to him and said, ' ' Can I speak to you, my young 
friend?" at the same time removing his foot 
from the carriage. He turned around, looked 
me in the face, and asked if I was a Catholic 
Priest. I replied, " I am not." "Are you a 
Methodist preacher ?" "No, I am not." 
"Then who to h — are you?" "I am your 
friend," I said, "will you let me speak with 
you ? " He said, " Come and have a drink." 
I said "Not to-day." I saw the young man 
was determined to get away from me, so I fol- 
lowed him from about half-past nine A. M. to 
four P. M.. and during that time he drank at 
least fifteen glasses of rum and ale. At last I 
succeeded in following him home, where 1 found 
his mother, a widow of one of the most respect- 
able families in Washington, who, on account 
of her son's drunkenness, had left the neighbor- 
hood where they formerly resided, and moved 
to another locality, to keep from being disgraced 



26 A Brand Plucked from the Burning. 

or disgracing her boy. I could not do much 
with the young man that evening in the state 
he was in, and I told his mother I would call 
the next morning and see them. On the follow- 
ing morning I found him sober ; his head was 
swollen, his eyes were protruding from their 
sockets, and, as all drinkers know, to their sor- 
row, his stomach was in a dreadful state. I 
talked with him a while and got him interested 
in the conversation, when a feeling came over 
me, and I thought I ought to pray with him. I 
knelt in front of him, took him by the lappels 
of his coat, and gently drew him on his knees 
in front of me, and there in the presence of his 
mother, I asked God, for the sake of his Son 
Jesus Christ, to take away the appetite for 
strong drink from this young man, as He had 
done from me. For several days I visited him 
two or three times a day, and always prayed 
with him, and in the mean time, asked all the 
Christian people to pray for him. On the 
fourth day, after offering prayer, Mr. B. said 
to me, " If you, Mr. R., a stranger, take so much 
interest in me, it is about time that I should 
take some interest in myself." 

That evening he went with me to hear Mr. 
Hammond preach, and was converted that 
same night. He is now a good and faithful 
worker for Jesus. The appetite for drink is 
taken from him, and he is giving daily ex- 
perience of his acceptance with Christ. Surely 
this is "a brand plucked from the burning." 



A Brand Plucked from the Burning. 27 

Since I left Washington, I have received letters 
of a very cheering character from him, and he 
is so zealous in the cause of Christ, that when 
Mr. Hammond left for Baltimore, my young 
friend went there to relate his experience, that 
other young men might profit by it and be 
saved. The case of the young man here given, 
is not an isolated one ; there are tens of thou- 
sands of persons who are treading on the verge 
of eternal perdition, and who are dead in tres- 
passes and sins, without having any desire 
beyond the accumulation of this world' s goods, 
or the gratification of their sensual appetites. 
They are spiritually dead to "the things that 
make for their peace," and move about on this 
earth without thinking of a future life. The 
drunkard seeks to drown the voice of the Spirit 
by his libations, and sears his conscience by 
blasphemy and revelling in his cups, until he 
goes down to the grave, and to eternal ruin. 
His name is soon forgotten by his boon compan- 
ions, but his deathless soul is undergoing the 
tortures of the lost. 

Reader, allow me to ask you, is your heart 
dead to ' ' the things that make for your peace ? ' ' 
Are you rejecting the offers of life, eternal life ? 
That life that can alone be had by coming to 
Christ, who is the fountain of life, and of love, 
and who is the bright and the morning star to 
dispel the darkness from your mind and take 
away your carnal propensities. It is the 
glorious sunlight of righteousness, that must 



28 A Brand Plucked from the Burning. 

m 

warm and cheer and elevate our cold hearts 
into the newness of life, and raise us from the 
death of sin. But there is something for ns to 
do ; we must " seek the Lord while He may be 
found, and call upon Him while He is near," 
and be willing to give up everything that hin- 
ders our coming to Christ. We must be willing 
to be nothing in our own estimation, that we 
may receive Christ, the only Saviour, and be 
willing to become as a little child, before we can 
grow up to the stature of men, in Christ Jesus. 

We are dead in trespasses and sin, and with- 
out the quickening power of the Spirit we shall 
remain lifeless like a withered tree, without 
bud, without leaf, and without fruit, only cum- 
berers of the ground, without peace here, or 
hope hereafter. Did we possess a lease of our 
lives, and know the hour we should leave this 
world, w T ould it not be folly to trifle away our 
precious moments? How much greater folly 
is it, when we have not a minute to call our own, 
to be reckless about the salvation of our im- 
mortal souls ! " We think all men mortal but 
ourselves." 

Like a surgeon in a military hospital, after a 
hard fought battle, looks on the writhings of 
the wounded soldiers without a tremor, and 
hears their heart-rending cries without sym- 
pathy, so is it with man. Our finer feelings 
are blunted by sin and mixing up with the 
people of the world ; our character, in a great 
measure, is formed by evil companions. 



The Enquiry Room. 29 

My dear reader, if your besetting sin is drunk- 
enness, ask God to take away the appetite that 
you have for strong drink. Jesus is the phy- 
sician of the body as well as the soul ; there is 
no disease so inveterate, as to be beyond His 
skill to cure. He took that craven desire from 
me. I used to tremble like an aspen leaf, when 
I saw the picture of a glass of ale with its foam- 
ing head painted on a sign board, and the devil 
would suggest to me, to go around, and get in 
by a back door. The testimony of thousands of 
reclaimed drunkards is, that Jesus is able to 
save to the uttermost, all that come unto Him, 
and remember this : "No drunkard shall in- 
herit the Kingdom of Heaven." . 

After my conversion, I was so anxious to 
work for Christ, that I went into the enquiry 
room every day and night, whenever and 
wherever I could. It was about the 9th day of 
March, I said to a young man in the enquiry 
room of the Congregational Church at Wash- 
ington, "My friend, are you a Christian? do 
you love Jesus?" He replied, "Idon'tw T ant 
any man to talk to me about Jesus, especially 
a Jew," and with that he threw his hat in my 
face. This cut me to the very soul, and I said 
to him, "My friend, if you had done that two 
months ago, before my conversion, and I had a 
pistol with me, I should have put a bullet 
through you ; now I want to show you what 
that Jesus has done for me." I handed the 
young man his hat, saying to him, "My friend, 



A Hat Thrown in i 

you need praying for, I am going to pray : 
you/ 1 The manner I acted towards him com- 
pletely subdued him. for he came to me in fi 
minutes afterwards, and said he was sorry for 
what he had done: "I ought not to have 
thrown my hat in your face : I ask your par- 
don/* I told him. he should ask Jesus for 
pardon, for it was Him he had insulted. I at 
once turned round to the congregation and 
shouted as loudly as possible. "I ask every 
Christian in this house (there being about 2,.r 
people present) to pray for a young man who 
has thrown his hat in my face, for asking him if 
he loves Jesus." The next day. at the Calvary 
Baptist Church, when Mr. Hammond held his 
morning prayer meeting. I again asked the 
prayers of God* s people for that same young man, 
and I prayed for him daily, at every meeting. 

On the evening of the twelfth day. Mrs. Young, 
the same dear Christian lady who caught me by 
the coat, showed me a young lady in whom she 
felt a deep interest, and asked me to speak 
her. I went and spoke to her, and she said to me, 
"Speak to my brother." and made room for 
me to sit between them. The young man v 
the person who threw his hat in my face. I 
asked them * % if they were willing for me to 
pray with them ! " The young man reached his 
hand forth to me. and began to cry. and both 
him and his sister knelt for prayer, and in L 
than fifteen minutes, they were rejoicing in the 
Lord Jesus. 



fa Bro <ter. 31 

Oh ! how my soul was filled with gratitude 
to God, and ray heart leapt for gladness ! I 
thanked Him that the hat was thrown in my 

e, for it was the means of bringing that sin- 
ner to himself. There is no more interesting 
place to me, than the enquiry room of a relig- 
ious meeting. There we see human nature in its 
various ] : the refined and the vulgar 

*et there : the learned and the illiterate mingle 
their pray ie virtuous and the abandon 

me there for the same purpo s : 

the silvery haired disciple, who has borne the 
heat and the burden of the day. in: 
into the newly born convert, and gives him 
counsel how to proceed along the narrow path- 
way that leads to heaven. There the overcharg 
heart unburthens its sorrow, and lays it all at 
the foot of the cross : the drunkard and the 
thief confess their sins and find pardon and 
peace : there a mother supplicates for a belov 
child, and a child prays for a wicked father ; 
and there loved ones are remembered, thong] 
far away, and petiti throne of 

heavenly grace for bl me down 

upon them : and there luke-warm Christians 
rn that loiterers in the Church are stumbling 
blocks, in the way of others, and are impel: 
forward more vigorously to do battle for the 
Lord ; ther formalist finds him- 

balances and_ found wanting, 
and that his religion is of no value without 
Christ; and then w that the religion of 



32 Leaves Washington for Neio York. 

Christ is a vital, life-giving, soul-inspiring 
reality. 

I fell in love with the good people in Wash- 
ington ; and I can never forget the many kind- 
nesses I received from them. But where every- 
one was so good, it would be invidious to men- 
tion names in particular ; suffice it to say, 
that I made more friends there in a few days, 
than I had done in all the 46 years of my life 
before, and I had determined to settle down 
with the dear friends who cared so much for 
my soul, because I found my Saviour there. 

Business matters compelled me to visit New 
York, and on my arrival in that city, I went 
to the Hippodrome, to hear Mr. Moody preach. 
And speedily I went to work, with all my soul, 
in the enquiry room ; for Mr. Hammond had 
so engrafted the spirit of it into my heart, that 
I would hold an enquiry meeting with myself 
in the railway cars, when alone. At the Hippo- 
drome there was a wide field opened up to me. 
Hundreds of persons came there daily, seeking 
salvation, and asking for sympathy and con- 
solation. How my heart yearned over these 
poor creatures ! Many of them seemed to be 
the offscouring of the earth, and the marks of 
poverty and suffering were deeply engraven on 
their faces. 

A large number of the men that came there 
were drunkards. Many drank because they 
had the demon craving for it ; others drank to 
allay sorrow, but found that " wine is a mock- 






At the Hippodrome. 33 

er." With these people I worked heartily. 

Knowing my own sad besetment, I could talk to 
them experimentally on that subject. And I 
told them, "that it was the drunkard and out- 
cast of society, that my Lord and Master came 
to save." And to give those poor creatures a 
word of consolation, and point them to the 
Saviour, was my delight. 

I was greatly impressed by the assemblage 
at the Hippodrome. Looking at that sea of faces 
as I sat on the platform, I felt .inspired with 
awe, as I thought on the assembled world 
meeting before Him "that sitteth on the Great 
White Throne." There, in that meeting, the 
dark race of Africa was stretching forth their 
hands to God, the Jew was seeking the Messiah, 
and the various nationalities were seeking one 
common'Saviour. Truly, " The same Lord over 
all is rich, unto all that call upon Him." The 
singing of those beautiful hymns by Mr. 
Sankey, and the refrain by that vast assembly, 
was wonderfully effective. It seemed to me at 
times as if one part of the hymn would be taken 
up by a thousand voices, and another portion in 
the opposite part of the house, and would waft 
the sweet cadence from one to the oth£r ; it was 
truly thrilling, it seemed heavenly. But what 
struck me most, was the power Mr. Moody 
possessed over his audience in arresting and 
sustaining their attention, which shows there 
is something more at work there, than mere 
human agency. Truly, excitement may have 



34: Mr, Moody. 

somewhat to do with bringing the masses to- 
gether, for human nature is such that notoriety 
is sought after, and no doubt many persons 
visited the Hippodrome to see Mr. Moody per- 
sonally. The success of his preaching lay in 
his earnestness, and believing in what he said, 
and therefore, like a good workman, he did his 
work well. His manner is energetic, which 
carries force with it, and gives it weight. He 
is a true Bible scholar, as his well thumbed 
Bible testifier He turns to any verse required 
with a facility that shows that he knows ex- 
actly where to find it ; and being gifted with a 
good memory, he intersperses his addresses 
with anecdotes, with telling effect. He ap- 
pears not to forget anything that comes under 
his notice, and reserves the incident for f ature 
use. 

Theology, as taught in the schools, does not 
trouble him much. He preaches Christ, as the 
Saviour of the world, who is ready to give a 
full, free, and present salvation to every one 
that will accept it. Mr. Moody' s religion is of 
a decided practical character, that admits of no 
trifling. It is, " Now is the accepted time. Be- 
hold ! now is the day of salvation." Procras- 
tination is not only the thief of time, but has 
allured thousands of souls to hell. On Sabbath 
afternoon, I went to Jerry McCauley's mission, 
in Water Street, Xew York. And I would 
advise all my readers, when in this city, to pay 
a visit to "The Helping Hand." It is very 



Jerry McCauleys Helping Hand. 35 

encouraging to know that the number of per- 
sons who attend there is so large, that a more 
spacious building is necessary, to accommodate 
them. Mr. McCauley is very pointed in his 
manner of addressing his hearers, and very 
strict in enforcing the rules laid down there. 
The assembly is composed largely of sea-faring 
men, in their ordinary working attire. On one 
occasion, after prayer, and a portion of the 
Scripture was read, he said, " Remember the 
minute rule. I used to work for a man, and I 
used to sneak off and go one side and steal 
time. What do you think I was doing i I 
was stowing away, smoking an old pipe ; that 
was stealing time. Now don't you know that 
when we take things that don't belong to us, 
we are stealing ! When we take time belonging 
to others, it is stealing. Remember particular- 
ly the minute rule. Sometimes my wife touches 
the organ, and that is a hint for me to sit down. 
I am not a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, 
but I prophesy that we are going to have a good 
time to-night. It depends on us whether we 
will or not. The meeting is open. If you 
young converts would stand up and speak, 
you would enjoy the meeting wonderfully. 
You will have the 'blues' all through the 
meeting if you don t get up and say, that Je- 
sus has saved you. 7. This address is charac- 
teristic of the man. He wins his hearers by 
becoming one with them. 

A man arose, and said : -I thank God, Christ 



36 Jerry McCauleifs Helping Hand. 

has saved me ; I forgot that blessed Saviour for 
forty years, and twenty years of that time I 
was a drunkard. I asked Him a thousand 
times to damn my soul. I never thought to bow 
my knee in prayer to God who made me. I 
used to make up my mind I would drink no 
more, and then I would get drunk. I kept on 
this way year after year. I came here three or 
four nights. I began to think ; that is a small 
word, think, but there is a world of meaning 
in it. I thought I had not asked God to help 
me. I went on my knees and asked God ; the 
first time I had been on my knees to my Sav- 
iour for forty years. That blessed Saviour 
heard that prayer, crooked as it was. He took 
it and laid it at His Fathers feet, and I bless 
God, that first prayer was answered. When I 
got up next morning, instead of going out for 
bitters, I thanked God for what He had done for 
my soul. Since that time, there has been no 
Sabbath-breaking and drinking forme. I am 
now 57 years of age ; what would I not give if 
I could recall that forty years of my life ! But 
I cairt do it." Two or three others having 
spoken a few words, Jerry McCauley said, 
4 * Xow we will have a prayer meeting for those 
who feel their need of the prayers of God's 
people. It seems to me, every unsaved person 
can be saved here to-night, if he will, at this 
meeting. I call this meeting a failure, I 
call every meeting a failure, if no one is 
converted. Christ's people can get together 



Jerry McCauley's Helping Hand, 37 

and shout, and all that sort of thing, but if no 
one is saved, what does it amount to I Blessed 
be God, every night for four years, I have had 
prayer. Rum halls are kept open every night, 
and Sunday night too. They don't care about 
your excise law. Your Commissioners don't 
care much either. They go home and go to 
sleep, and you might as well take a chair and 
sit down, as go to see one of them. I came 
near wearing a pair of shoes out, going to see 
them. What you say to them, goes in at one 
ear and out of the other. I believe in a religion 
that will save men from every kind of sin. 
Some persons say ' Brother McCauley is a little 
fanatical ; he is too hard on a sinner.' He is not 
hard enough. Oh ! I tell you the time will come 
when your cry will be, ' Oh ! that I only lived 
nearer to God, and that I was a better Christian !' 
I tell you, dear friends, that Jesus gives us a 
perfect salvation, but we make it imperfect 
ourselves. I believe, that if Christian people 
lived right, there would be such a mighty 
power in this city, it w^ould tremble from one 
part to the other, and people would say, ' God 
is here of a truth.' I have seen men tremble, 
and hide their heads under the benches, as an 
old woman cried out, 'IseeHim! Heiscominc: !' 
I have known men to run out, and slam that 
door. Why ? Because the Spirit of God con- 
victed them of sin, and they ran away from it. 
God cannot do any more than what He is doing. 
The Holy Ghost is drawing you, and pleading 



38 Jerry McCauley's Helping Hand. 

with you, and you are resisting Him. Do you 
want to be saved to-night ? Some people would 
not lift up their hand to be saved ; they are 
stubborn. Oh, my God, help some soul to be 
willing here to be saved to-night ! Let God 
take the pride out of your hearts. Are you 
proud that you have a good coat, or a few 
greenbacks, or a gold watch ? Humble your- 
self before God. Some people will not kneel 
down to these old benches ; they say, ' I want 
a cushion, I do ; when I want to be converted, 
I want to go to some fancy place ; this place is 
good enough for them old fellows down there.' 
I tell you, unless you get down like us poor 
fellows, God never will save you. You must 
do it in your heart. It will not make any 
difference whether you have a cushion or an 
old rotten bench. You must be humble, like 
a little child. I feel there is unbelief here. 
Oh, may God take it out of every heart !" 

I was much struck by the appearance of a 
remarkable looking woman, who arose and 
said : " Two years ago, I thank God, my child's 
little dress, that I had washed and hung out of 
the window to dry, was blown over into Mrs. 
McCauley' s yard ; that circumstance was the 
means of bringing me to Christ. I had been a 
drunkard and a strumpet for years, walking the 
streets of New York. I did everything that 
was bad. I would hire a child, and squeeze it 
and starve it, to make it look sickly, to beg. 
My husband was a sailor, and a drunkard like 



Jerry McCauley' s Helping Hand. 39 

myself. We had to sleep on the floor, from the 
fact that when we had a quilt or blanket, I 
would take it to the pawn-shop, and for two or 
three days w^ould go without bread, and drink- 
ing all the time. 

When my husband came home from sea, we 
would go on a spree, and drink until every 
cent was spent. As I said before, the little 
frock flew into Mrs. McCauley' s yard, and I 
went after it. I asked her if I could go into 
the yard for it, and she said c Certainly. 5 From 
my appearance, Mrs. McCauley must have 
thought what I w^as, for my dress was very 
dirty and ragged, my hair w^as not combed, and 
I looked filthy. Mrs. McCauley asked me 
what I was doing for a living. I told her 
4 Nothing in particular.' She said, ' You come 
for your child's dress ; there are people that 
come here, and look for something that they 
least expect, but, thanks be to the Lord, they 
find it. Won' t you come ? We have meetings 
here.' 'Well,' I said to her, 'I have not a 
piece of bread to eat, and your Jesus ain't a 
going to give it to me.' ' I will give you some 
in the name of Jesus,' said Mrs. McC, and she 
gave me two loaves of bread. That kindness 
made such an impression on me, that on that 
evening I went to the meeting ; but it was more 
because I had no fire in my room, and I wanted 
to warm myself. I began to feel interested, and 
1 kept coming to this meeting, and thanks be 
to the Lord, I found the Saviour here, and he 



40 Jerry McCauley's Helping Hand. 

has taken away all the appetite for drink. 
Friends, if you will come to my room, you will 
find there now such furniture as a working - 
man can afford. I have George Washington's 
picture, and the pictures of General Jackson 
and Generals Lee and Beauregard, on my walls, 
and I can now spare a few shillings a month, 
for missionary work, and can give a poor wo- 
man a dinner or a supper. My husband, who 
sits here by me, is a dear, darling, sober man ; 
he don't go to sea no more ; he earns his 12 or 
14 dollars a week, and I earn 5 or 6, and we 
save up a little money. On my last birthday, 
he made me a present of a nice Bible. Jesus 
will do for any of you what he has done for me. 
Instead of my husband fighting and pulling my 
hair, we sit and have family worship." 

I sat and looked at that man and woman with 
surprise. I wanted to rise and speak, as the im- 
pression they made upon me was so great, but 
every time I arose, two men would pull me 
down, and when I did gain the floor, I had to 
observe Jerry McCauley's rule, and all I said 
was "May God bless you !" I could see the 
love of Christ beaming in that woman's face, 
for it was radiant, and her husband shed tears 
of joy all the time she was speaking. That 
woman and her husband had been prayed for 
hundreds of times, and it was in answer to 
prayer, God wrought this wonderful change. 

Another instance of the wonderful power of 
prayer came under my notice recently. A 



Dressed for the Ball. 41 

young gentleman purchased tickets for himself 
and sister for a ball, that was to be held in the 
town. In the evening when they were dressing 
themselves to attend the ball, their mother, a 
wealthy lady and a good Christian, remonstrated 
with them on the folly of their going to such a 
place, when most young folks were going to 
Church, and said to them, " You ought not to 
go to a ball, my children." The reply of the 
young man was, that he had paid $2.50 for the 
tickets, and had promised to attend. The 
•mother said, " Henry and Helen, ifyou persist in 
going to the ball to-night, I will go on my knees, 
and remain there until you return, and pray 
God to have mercy on you." 

The young lady and her brother left their 
home with the full purpose of going to the ball 
room. When passing by the doors of a church 
in which a revival meeting was being held, the 
young lady's attention was attracted by the 
singing, and she asked her brother to go inside 
with her, if only for one minute. They came in, 
and w T ere seated, when the lady drew my atten- 
tion, and I left the platform, and entered into con - 
versation with them. When the revivalist asked 
that such persons as desired the prayers of the 
Christian people should rise, both brother and 
sister stood up. The time for which they en tered 
was prolonged into an hour, and again length- 
ened until they found their Saviour. The young 
man took the tickets for the ball from his pocket 
and showed them in the meeting. We may ex- 



42 TJie Captain of a Slave Ship. 

pect that those ball dresses will become more 
beautiful in the eyes of those young people, as 
they will remember under what circumstances 
they were worn, and the results arising from 
prayer. This occurrence transpired on the 25th 
day of April last, in a town on the Mohawk 
River. On the 5th of May, I met the young 
gentleman at the noonday prayer meeting in 
Fulton St., New York, and we rejoiced to meet 
each other. I refrain from giving names, by 
request. 

At one of these meetings, I met a man 74 
years of age ; his hair was white as snow, and 
his silvery beard came down over his breast, 
giving him a patriarchal appearance. He arose 
in the meeting and told how he had found 
Christ just nine days before. Think of it : that 
old man, only nine days a child of God ! He 
had been the captain of a slave ship, and on 
different voyages from Africa, when chased by 
British cruisers, he had thrown 286 human beings 
overboard into the sea. For forty-nine years he 
had not been in a church ; though he knew there 
was a God, yet he did not believe in Him. On 
the 2d day of April, 1876, he came home, and 
quietly went to his daughter s room, having left 
her unwell that morning. When he reached the 
top of the stairs, he heard his daughters voice, 
and on opening the door softly he found her on 
on her knees, with her head resting on the table, 
and her hands clasped, supplicating the Throne 
of Grace for her fathers salvation. Her prayer 






The Captain of a Slave Ship. 43 

was : "Oh, Lord Jesus, save my father; I cannot 
live and see him thus ; he is my father ; though 
his sins are many, and of the blackest kind, yet 
dear Jesus, as Thou did' st forgive the thief on 
the cross, Thou canst forgive him. Oh ! dear 
Saviour, save him now ! Hear my supplication, 
oh, God!" The old man could stand it no 
longer. He went from the door and fell flat on 
the floor. And his daughter seeing it, fell 
across him, with her arms around his neck, 
crying out, " Lord Jesus, give me my father ; 
give him light to see his need of Thee." For 
about twenty minutes, both remained silent on 
the floor, and when she aroused him, and looked 
at his face, she said, "Dear father, do look in 
the glass; you look a different man." And 
surely he was a different man, for the trans- 
forming power of God had cleansed him, and 
made him a new creature in Christ Jesus.. Well 
might the old man's knees tremble, as he told 
at the meeting of the wonderful condescension 
of God, and of the mighty power of faithful 
prayer. He met with a friend in his old age, 
whom he derided and insulted in his younger 
days. We cannot think of a more desperate 
and blasphemous character, than the captain of 
a slave ship, lost to all sense of sympathetic 
feeling. They delight in rapine and cruelty. 
We think from the nature of their calling, they 
cannot be far removed from demons. And 
yet this man, at the age of 74 years, when we 
would have thought his heart was seared by 



44 A Little Talk with Jesus. 

crime, so that nothing could reclaim him, came 
under the influence of the love of Jesus, and 
budded, and brought forth fruit to the glory of 
His name. His conversion and communion 
with Jesus, must be surpassingly sweet to Jiim. 



A LITTLE TALK WITH JESUS. 

" A little talk with Jesus ; how it smooths the rugged 

road ; 
How it seems to help me onward, when I faint beneath 

my load ; 
When my heart is crush'd with sorrow, and my eyes 

with tears are dim, 
There's naught can yield me comfort, like a little talk 

with Him. 

I tell Him I am weary, and I fain would be at rest ; 
That I am daily, hourly longing for a home upon 

His breast; 
And He answersmeso sweetly,in tonesof tenderestlove, 
' I am coming soon to take thee to my happy home 

above.' 

Ah ! this is what I'm wanting, His lovely face to see; 
And, I'm not afraid to say it, I know He ; s wanting me ; 
He gave His life a ransom, to make me all His own, 
And He can't forget His promise to me, His purchased 
one. 

I know the way is dreary to yonder far-off clime, 
But a little talk with Jesus will while away the time; 
And yet the more I know Him, and all His grace 

explore, 
It only sets me longing to know Him more and more. 

I cannot live without Him, nor would I if I could; 
He is my daily portion, my medicine, my food ; 
He's altogether lovely, none can with Him compare; 
The chief among ten thousand, the fairest of the fair. 



An Aged Christian. 45 

So I'll wait a little longer, till His appointed time, 
And glory in the knowledge that such a hope is mine ; 
Then in my Father's dwelling, where many mansions be, 
I'll sweetly talk with Jesus, and He shall talk with me." 



While at Little Falls, I stopped at the house 
Mrs. Voskburgh, and one day she requested 
me to go in to see her mother, as the old lady 
wanted the converted Jew (meaning myself) to 
pray with her. I went into her room, and 
found an aged Christian there, 93 years of age, 
who had been following Jesus 79 years. She 
was busily engaged making a patch-work quilt. 
I took her by the hand ; knelt in front of her, 
and began to sing my favorite hymn, " Jesus 
lover of my soul, let me to Thy bosom fly." 
She being deaf, I had to place my mouth close 
to her ear, and she placed her head on my 
shoulder, and with one hand stroking my head, 
as if she were blessing me. Oh ! how I felt, I 
cannot describe. My heart shrank within me, 
to see that old lady, who had followed Jesus 
for so long a period as 79 years, and myself 
comparatively only a few days His child, after 
denying Him for forty-six years. I prayed 
with her, and bade her good night. 

The following morning she sent for me to re- 
peat the same service, after which she sang " I 
am coming, Lord, to Thee," in a very low, 
hardly perceptible voice. Yet I thought it was 
the sweetest music I had ever heard. On that 
morning, she requested me to kneel, to receive 



•±6 A Prayer Meeting on the Mountain-Top. 

her blessing. It was very gratifying for me to 
receive her benediction. And may I prove as 
faithful to my Lord and Master as this, His 
aged handmaiden^ who has borne the heat and 
the burden of the day, and who is patiently 
waiting to be summoned to meet Him in heaven. 
After breakfast, the Rev. Mr. Patterson, the 
revivalist, invited me to climb the mountain 
that overhangs the city of Little Falls, in search 
of crystals (by some persons called diamonds) 
that are found there. When on the mountain 
top, overlooking the city and the falls of the 
Mohawk River, we were sitting down ; I took 
out my Testament and read, and said, " Christ 
preached on the mountain and prayed on the 
mountain." Then Mr. Patterson said, "Let 
us do likewise." We then commenced a prayer 
meeting, and the beautiful feathered tribe joined 
us in singing the praises of our Great Immanuel. 
It seemed as if we were at the gate of heaven, 
and enjoying the peaceful serenity of that city, 
whose builder and maker is God. Away from 
the busy haunts of man, we were holding sweet 
communion with our Saviour, as it were, ele- 
vated between earth and the home of the just 
men made perfect. And under the blue etherial 
canopy of heaven, our souls were being feasted 
with a fresh manifestation of our Saviour's love, 
to prepare us for going forth, to proclaim the 
glad tidings of a present salvation. Our blessed fc 
Master would often go up on the mountain to 
pray, and we, His followers, imitating His ex- 






Finding a Diamond of the First Water. 47 

ample, met with Him there. There in seclusion 
our minds were not distracted, but feeling like 
His disciples felt, on the Mount of Transfigur- 
ation, we were ready to exclaim, "Lord, let us 
make three tabernacles here ; one for Thee, and 
one for Moses, and one for Elias ! " But He 
requires the tabernacles of our heart, which we 
gladly give Him. 

On our way back to the city, when crossing 
the Erie canal, we saw a blind man, feeling his 
way with a stick to come off the steps. Mr. 
Patterson and myself shook hands with him, 
and said, " Good morning friend, can you come 
to-night to our revival meeting, and hear a con- 
verted Jew give his experience?" said Mr. P. 
" Oh ! that's you, Mr. Patterson ? I heard you 
preach the other night. I know you by your 
voice. And your sermon done me a heap of 
good. I have been serving my Master for many 
years, and, though I am blind, I see Him by 
faith every day." That dear blind man came 
that night, and fairly shouted when I spoke of 
the love of Jesus. 

" I have far sweeter communion with Jesus," 
said a blind man, in an experience meeting, 
" since I lost my sight, than I ever had before. 
Now I can sit and think on Him, and talk with 
Him, more than I used to do. • And He comes 
nearer me, as if to recompense me for the loss 
of my eyesight. But my spiritual vision is 
clearer and brighter, and I am longing to go 
home, to see the King in His beauty, and see 



48 The Torpedoes. 

that glorious city, the new Jerusalem, to sweep 
the golden lyre and sing the new song. To 
Him that loved us, and washed us in His own 
blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
unto God, to Him be glory and dominion for 
ever and ever, amen. I am longing to go home. 
I could leave my wife and my children, for 
Jesus will take care of them. 

" For me my elder brethren stay, 
And angels beckon me away, 
And Jesus bids me come." 

At. the same place, the following evening, 
two young men came there to disturb the meet- 
ing, and brought with them, in their pockets, 
small torpedoes or balls, that explode with a 
loud noise when thrown on the ground. These 
were intended to be thrown among the people 
when rising for prayer ; but the restraining 
hand of God was upon these young men, and 
the arrow of conviction entered the heart of one 
of them. He became a seeker lor pardon, and 
after a while found peace. This young man, 
after the sermon, was the first to arise for 
prayer. He put his hand into his pocket, and 
took the torpedoes therefrom, and with his face 
covered by his handkerchief, and crying, he 
told how he intended to disturb the meeting 
with them. 

For a person to doubt the efficacy of prayer, 
is to deny the goodness of God. Do we sup- 
pose for a moment, that man was created and 
left to his own resources, without adequate 



The Efficacy of Prayer. 49 

means given to him for producing the necessa- 
ries that he requires to sustain his existence, 
when we had such overwhelming proof of it on 
every hand \ There was provision made for 
his physical sustenance, that by the sweat of 
his face he should eat bread. He goes forth to 
his labor ; he breaks up the ground, he ploughs 
the soil, he prepares it, and then sows the seed 
in it, and waits patiently in faith, for he cannot 
hasten its growth. After a while the sprouting 
blade shows itself, and imperceptibly grows, 
and expands until the ear shows itself, and 
then the full corn in the ear, and at last the 
golden grain is ready for the sickle. My readers 
perhaps will say, ' ' Yes. I knew all this before. ' ' 
But, did you ever think over it, to see what 
analogy there is between the sowing of the 
seed, and the offering of your prayers ? The 
seed is sown in prepared ground. The prayers 
are offered from regenerated hearts. In the 
natural course of events, you know that harvest 
time will come. So surely will the prayer of 
faith be answered. We pay too much attention 
to worldly matters ; too often forgetting that 
there is a higher life, a nobler manhood, to 
which we should aspire ; an aspiration that, is 
only worth living for, and for which we are 
sent into this world. There is a strange fatality 
hanging over man, that constantly keeps him 
in a state of perplexity, and he knows no peace 
until he comes to Jesus for it. He says, " My 
peace I give unto you ; not as the world giveth, 



50 A Frozen Meeting. 

give 1 unto you." It is lasting peace ; but we 
must seek for it, and we must trust in Jesus, 
for it. God lias made ample provision for our 
spiritual, as well as our temporal necessities. 
I sometimes think liow foolish it is to argue 
this matter, when everything around us proves 
the goodness of God towards us. But this 
strange fatality, sin, corrodes the souls of men, 
and warps their reason, and soothes them by 
its sophistry, and syren-like, lulls them into 
false security. My dear reader, if you are 
being lulled by the syren song of sin, try the 
prayer of blind Bartimeus : " Jesus, Thou son 
of David, have mercy on me. 5 ' And it will 
be your own fault if your spiritual vision 
is not healed from the blinding effects of sin, 
and you do not see Jesus as the one altogether 
lovely. 

Let me tell you where God answered my 
prayer on the spot. I was at the town of Key- 
port, in the State of Xew Jersey, one Sabbath 
day, and, after the evening service, at a church 
there, we held an enquiry meeting. It was 
something that was never held there before. 
The minister requested all Christians to rise, 
and about one-half of the congregation stood 
up. "He then asked all those who desired to be 
Christians, to stand up, but no one arose. He 
then requested me to take charge of the meeting, 
and I asked if there were any young men 
present, who desired the prayers of their Chris- 
tian friends, to stand up. I repeated the ques- 



Prayer Answered on the Spot. 51 

tion two or three times, still no one arose. I 
found that to be the coldest meeting I had been 
in, since my conversion. It seemed as if the 
congregation were seated on an iceberg, in the 
Arctic Ocean. It made me feel very bad indeed. 
I saw I could do nothing in front of the people, 
so I made a flank movement, and attacked 
them in the rear. There I asked a dozen young- 
men to rise for prayer, but all refused. I felt 
discouraged for awhile, but Grod, having re- 
peatedly answered my prayers, I thought I 
would appeal to Him again. So I knelt down 
in the aisle, and with as loud a voice as I could 
command, cried out: " Oh, my Lord Jesus 
Christ ! Thou who art ever ready to hear and 
answer prayer. I ask Thee to put it into the 
heart of one young man, at least, to rise for 
prayer. And Jesus, Thy name shall have all 
glory." I had not said amen, before the young 
man I first spoke to, and who had positively 
refused to rise, fell on his knees by my side, 
and, instead of me putting my arms around 
his neck, as I am accustomed to do, he put his ■ 
arms around mine, and with tears flowing from 
his eyes, said : " Do pray for me." My heart 
was filled with thankfulness to God. I arose, 
and requested all Christians who did not feel in 
sympathy with this seeking sinner, to leave the 
church, and all' the young men who wished to 
become Christians, and desired prayers, should 
stay behind, and I would remain all night, if 
need be, and pray with them. The Rev. Mr. 



52 My First Meeting for Converted Jews, in A". Y. 

Mead, the Pastor of the Church, myself, and a 
converted Jewess, with two or three of the 
Christian workers, remained there until nearly 
twelve o'clock at night. Four young men re- 
mained ; two were converted. And still the 
good work is going on, and souls are being 
brought to Christ. 

I have inaugurated in New York City, 
meetings for converted Jews. The following, I 
copy from the JSew York Daily Witness : 

" A Good Work Amokg the Chosek People. — 
A religious meeting was held on Tuesday afternoon, 
at 69 Second Avenue, corner of Fourth Street, pre- 
sided over by a converted Israelite, from Washington, 
D. C, who lias been in New York City, Albany and 
elsewhere, successfully working in the vineyard of 
Christ. The object of this meeting, was to form a 
union, to be called c The Hebrew Christian Associa- 
tion/ Its members to be converted Jews, who will 
hold their meetings one evening weekly, to which all 
Israelites are cordially invited. The meeting on 
Tuesday was a successful one. There were about 
sixty persons present, many of whom had recently 
found the Saviour, and were ready to testify to the 
power and willingness of Jesus to save sinners, and to 
*go forth among their brethren to tell them what God 
had done for their souls. It is hoped that the meeting 
on Tuesday will be the nucleus for extending more 
fully the missionary spirit of converted Jews, and we 
hope for great results therefrom. We are glad to 
notice that many young Jews and Jewesses are de- 
ciding for Christ, and it is interesting to hear them 
relate their experience in our meetings. There are 
upwards of 200 converted Jews in New York City. 
These alone would form a noble band of workers to 
unfold the blood stained banner of the cross." 



Our' Second Meeting. 53 

Our second meeting was held on the evening 
of Friday, the oth of May, in Hope Chapel, at 
the corner of Avenue C and Fourth Street. 
Four young Jews arose and told the meeting 
of the great love of Christ, as experienced by 
them. One young man, who has been driven 
from his home forgiving his heart to Jesus, and 
is persecuted by his people, offered prayer, full 
of love and confidence and hope ; and as he said, 
"When my father and mother forsake me, then 
the Lord will take me up," he made an effec- 
tive appeal to all present, and their prayers, 
with his, were presented at the throne of grace. 

There is something extremely interesting in 
hearing these young Jews talking of Christ, 
apart from the prejudice that envelopes their 
race, and more so, as conversions among the 
Jews occur so seldom, simply because so very 
little is done for their spiritual welfare. The 
church, in this land, has held itself aloof from 
them, and have treated them as a stiff-necked, 
stubborn race. Stubborn and stiff-necked they 
are, and they will become more so, but Chris- 
tians should be delighted to labor contentedly 
in the field our dear Lord commanded us to 
cultivate. And He will surely bless our efforts, 
if we sow beside all waters. 

One dear sister, a converted Jewess, arose 
and said : " When I was a child, my father 
sold pictures, and some of those pictures were 
representations of Jesus ; he sold them because 
he wanted the money ; and we used to spit up- 



54 Interesting Experience. 

on them, and if the frame of one was broken, 
we would take the picture up and throw it 
away. And when I went out to work, I lived 
with Roman Catholic people, and they had 
Jesus hung up against the wall, and I would 
go and point at it in derision. But when I 
began to read about Christ, I thought this man 
surely was a good man, and I went to church 
with these people. But that did not satisfy me ; 
I wanted something else. And I looked at the 
picture on the cross, and that did not satisfy 
me ; I wanted something more. And I went 
to mass, but that would not do ; I wanted 
something more. And I began to pray to 
Jesus, and He filled my heart with love. And 
when my brother came to see me, I told him he 
could come there, but that I was a Christian, 
and that Jesus was not on the wall merely, but 
I had Him in my heart, and glory be to His 
holy name, He is there now, and He remains 
with me. He is a dear, good friend. He has 
been with me ever since I knew Him. Glory to 
His holy name ! I love to tell of His goodness, 
and what He has done for me. Glory to His 
holy name ! And my dear friends, He will do 
the same for you. He will never leave you. 
He will never forsake you. He has been with 
me through sickness and sorrow, and when my 
people abused me, for His sake, I did not 
care for that, for He is my Saviour, and my 
friend, and all my hope is in Him. For He has 
promised to take me to heaven at last." 



Esther King. 55 

Testimonies like these require no comment. 
They tell their own tale, and? carry conviction 
with them. They show that our Jesus is "a 
friend that sticketh closer than a brother.'' 
That without Him, there is an empty void the 
world can never fill, but that all fullness dwells 
in Him. How cheering to the weary traveler, 
passing through this wilderness world, to 
hear Him say, "La, I am with you al way, even 
unto the end of the world," Guiding us 
through all our troubles ; guarding us in every 
danger ; never leaving us, never forsaking us. 

Let me give you the experience of another 
dear sister, a lady of this city, Esther King, 
who w r as disowned by her family, Jews, for 
becoming a Christian. Perhaps it may interest 
some of our young readers, if I give it in verse : 

a They frown, that once had smiled on her, 

A floweret of their ancient tribe ; 
Her name is spoken with a slur, 

Her spotless fame they now deride. 

No longer hers, her childhood's home 

Has pass'd to others of her race, 
And now, a wanderer, she roams, 

To seek herself a resting-place. 

And cold the winter's wind did blow, 
While onward was her fearless tread, 

And deeply lay the fallen snow, 

When from her childhood's home she fled. 

But heeding not the stormy blast, 

Nor shrinking from their withering frown, 

The threshold of that home she pass'd, 
Resolved to win the victor's crown, 



56 Esther King. 

And follow Him who once had died 
Upon the cross, in Palestine ; 

He whom her sires had crucified, 
The curs'd and hated Nazarine. 

She saw the rod of Jesse's stem, 

The branch that issued from its root; 

It was the babe of Bethlehem, 

The vine that bore the promised fruit 

And the Messiah, she ascribes 
The Shiloh of the olden time, 

The Lion of famed Judah's tribe, 
To Jesus Christ, of David's line. 

The rose of Sharon bloom'd for her, 
And fair the valley's lily grew ; 

The rose with perfume fill'd the air, 
The lily gave its radiance too. 

She heeded not the piercing blast ; 

For her, no terrors had the night ; 
A sheltering arm 'round her was cast, 

A whisper put her fears to flight. 

' Lo, I am with thee,' gave her strength 
To wrestle, in that hour of need ; 

She knew that victory at length, 
Would in her favor be decreed. 

And soon the morn began to dawn, 

The conflict of the night was o'er; 
Her soul was free, its chain was gone. 

Such joy she never knew before. 
* 
The rose of Sharon bloom'd for her, 

And fair the valley's lily grew ; 
The rose with perfume fill'd the air, 

The lily gave its radiance too. 

She sought the vineyard of her Lord, 
Where laborers she knew were few, 

And armed with His eternal word, 
She taught the unbelieving Jew. 



Esther King. 57 

She raised the drunkard from the mire, 
Who soon forgot his oaths obscene ; 

No more a slave to base desire, 
She soothed the fallen Magdalene, 

And told them of the crimson flood, 
That washes whiter than the snow; 

The riches of the Saviour's blood, 
Its freedom, and its constant flow ; 

And pointing to her home above ; 

The maid of Judah swept her lyre ; 
She sang of His redeeming love, 

She sang with a seraphic fire. 

The seraphs caught the thrilling strain, 

And tried redeeming love to sing; 
The song re-echoed o'er the plain, 

It made the heavenly mansions ring. 

And far above the seraph choir, 

Was heard the maiden's sweet refrain ; 

Whene'er she swept the tuneful lyre, 
The blood of Jesus was her strain. 

And listening angels gathered round, 
To hear the songstress trill the tale ; 

Its mystery was too profound 
For angel wisdom to unveil. 

'Twas wondrous love to fallen-man, 
That brought Messiah on this earth ; 

'Twas Godlike to devise the plan, 
That gave to man the second birth, 

And born anew, true beauties see 

In what before he did deride, 
And joining nature's minstrelsy, 

In praise of Him they crucified. 

And Judah's sons are now elate 

With joy, to find the Nazarine, 
And hasten to the glorious state, 

With Him who died in Palestine. 



58 A Good Work. 

The rose of Sharon blooms for thein, 

And the fair valley's lily grow-. 
The rose entwines with Jesse's stem, 

And Judalrs tribe embrace the rose. 

And Salem's daughter still proclaims 
To scoffing Jew, and drunkard wild, 

The open door, that yet remains, 

Through Jesus Christ, the Virgin's child. 

The New TotJc Daily Witness kindly gives 
the following extract of our second meeting : 

" A Good Work Amokg the Chosex People. — 
A religious meeting of the Hebrew Christian Asso- 
ciation was held on Friday evening, May 5th, 1876, 
at Hope Chapel, corner of Avenue C and Fourth 
Street. There was a good attendance of converted 
Israelites and other friends. The experience of a 
converted Jewess made a deep impression on her 
hearers, and it was pleasant to see so many young 
Jews arise and tell of the love of Christ towards 
them, and their faith and confidence in their Saviour. 

" The meetings are to be continued in the same, on 
Friday evenings, until further notice, when all con- 
verted Jews are invited to attend and take part in the 
service. Our friend from Washington, who inaugu- 
rated these meetings, still continues busily engaged 
in the Lord's vineyard, and is doing great good in 
this city and neighborhood, and under his conduct, 
these union meetings no doubt will be successful in 
winning souls to Christ. When so much energy is 
put forth, great results must follow. We shall watch 
these meetings with interest, and aid them all we can 
by our intiuence and prayers. We ask every Christian 
to do the same, for the bringing of the children to 
Christ is a noble work to be engaged in, and all can 
help by their petitions to the throne of grace." 

I purpose, with God ? s help, to open two or 
three other places in the City of Xew York, for 



Sarah Hymes, ilie Converted Jewess. 59 

this purpose : the bringing of converted Jews, 
of various denominations, together, and helping 
each other onward to the heavenly Jerusalem. 
There was a beautiful young Jewess at Wash- 
ington, D. C, who read of my conversion, and 
the happiness I experienced in the Christian 
religion. She wrote me a letter, requesting me 
to meet her at the reading room of the Young 
Men' s Christian Association, at ten o' clock on 
the next morning. Mr. Hammond read the 
letter, and told me it would not be proper for 
me to meet her alone, and asked four or five 
Christian ladies to do so, with me. At the house 
where she resided, her intention to meet me be- 
came known, and she was detained there, so that 
she could not keep her appointment. In her let- 
ter she gave an account of a man, a Jew, who 
some thirteen months previously, she had fallen 
in love with, and at Baltimore, they were, as she 
supposed, married, but the ceremony was a 
mock one. They came to Washington, and 
the man took her to a house of ill fame, repre- 
senting it to be a private boarding house, and 
left her there with only thirteen dollars. I 
went to the house, and took two policemen 
with me, and demanded her ; but the women 
told us that no such person lived there. In her 
second letter she said that she was sorry to 
disappoint us, but that the mistress of the 
house would be absent on the morrow, and she 
would then get out and- go to the Baltimore 
and Ohio depot, and leave Washington for 



60 The Love of Christ. 

New York, and there would apply to the La- 
dies' Christian Aid Society. She told ns, she 
was tired of leading such a life, and would rather 
die than stay where she was. She had never in 
her life said a prayer. Thanks be to God, she 
fell into the hands of a Christian lady. She is 
now truly converted, and is now visiting the 
poor, and the sick, and the prisoners, working 
for Jesus. I have met her at several religious 
meetings in this city. She told me that previ- 
ous to her conversion, she premeditated suicide, 
and had gone to the river Potomac for that 
purpose. Her parents, at Baltimore, have put 
their curse upon her ; it is too horrible to pub- 
lish here ; they consider her as dead. 

I have related this, and such like incidents, 
at meetings that I have attended ; and I have 
been told by persons, that religion is greatly 
mixed up with excitement.* My answer is, "It 
may be But supposing that Mr. A. T. Stew- 
art had bequeathed to you, in his will, the sum 
of 10,000 dollars, and you never expected such 
a thing, would you not feel excited i " u Well, 
yes; I should." "How long would that ex- 
citement last \ Would it last a week ? " " Yes, 
it would." "Would it last three weeks, or 
would it last four weeks?" "I suppose it 
would." "Well, when the excitement passed 
away, you would still have the 10,000 dollars, 
would you not?" "Yes, of course." Well, 
my friend, so it is •with the love of Christ. 
When it is implanted in the heart, there 



The Love of Christ. 01 

it remains. If a man loves a woman on the 
day of their marriage, that love increases 
the longer they live together. But if there is 
no love existing between them, then he never 
loves her. So it is with our love for Jesus. 
"We love Him, because He first loved us> and 
gave Himself for a propitiation for us," and 
we love Him more and more, the closer we get 
to Him, until He takes us to Himself in heaven. 
Supposing there was a poor, filthy, degraded 
man, one of the worst of human kind, to whom 
Commodore Vanderbilt gave his check, paya- 
ble to bearer, for 5,000 dollars, and told him to 
go to the bank and get the money, and provide 
himself with decent apparel. The man takes 
it to the bank, and presents it to the cashier. 
Do you think the cashier refuses to pay the 
money because the man's appearance is rough % 
Certainly not ; he knows the signature of Com- 
modore Vanderbilt, and that is all he requires, 
so it is with our Father in heaven ; He is no 
respecter of persons. The potentates of the 
earth must come to the same Saviour, and in 
the same way as the vilest sinner. There is but 
one way to heaven ; and admittance into the 
celestial city can only be gained by a passport, 
signed by, and with the shed blood of the cru- 
cified Redeemer. It matters not what j^our 
lineage or nationality is, the phraseology of 
your language, or the color of your skin. All 
are God's children if the sprinkled blood is on 
the heart. Your raiment may be old and torn, 



62 Conclusion. 

but He will clothe you in the robe of righteous- 
ness. Your speech may be unintelligible, but 
He will fill your mouth with songs of praise. 
Your friends may deride you, and forsake you, 
but angels are your attendants, and your title 
is a prince of heaven and Jehovah* s son. 

In conclusion, let me speak a few words to 
my brethren, the Israelites, and ask them no 
longer to reject Jesus as the Messiah. He it 
was of whom the prophet Isaiah wrote : (Is. 
vii : 14:) "Therefore the Lord himself shall 
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall con- 
ceive and bear a son, and shall call his name 
Immanuel." And again: (Is. ix : 6:) "For 
unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given ; 
and the government shall be upon his shoulder, 
and his name shall be called Wonderful 
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting 
Father, the Prince of Peace. " Doubtless this 
prophecy was fulfilled when the Infant Jesus 
was born in Bethlehem. And again the proph- 
ecy was repeated by the angel to Joseph ; "Be- 
hold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall 
bring forth a son, and they shall call his name 
Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with 
us.*' And St. Mark tells us that "Jesus came 
from Xazareth of Galilee, and was baptised of 
John in Jordan, and straightway coming up out 
of the water, he saw the heavens opened and 
the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him, 
and there came a voice from heaven saying, 
' Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I am well 



Conclusion. 63 

pleased.' " These facts should convince the 
most obdurate heart, that Jesus is the Son of 
God. Apart from the writings of Holy Writ, 
let us take the testimony of thousands of con- 
verted Israelites, who are testifying to the faith 
that was once delivered to the saints, by the 
love of Jesus filling and warming their hearts. 
Think what this mysterious power can be, that 
so alters the nature of men, that changes their 
very looks, that takes them from the mire and 
filth of sin, and elevates them to be heirs of 
God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. 

Let me ask you, my dear brethren, is there not 
an emptiness in your hearts, which nothing that 
you can do supplies? Is there not a small 
still voice prompting you to seek peace through 
the blood of the crucified Saviour? Do not 
the tears often start from your eyes when some 
serious thought passes through your mind ? 
and you exclaim : " Oh, that I could find Him 
whom my soul longs to love ! " These prompt- 
ings, and those tears, are the voice of the Holy 
Spirit, knocking at the door of your hearts, 
and trying to woo you to himself, and unwilling 
to leave you. Can you reject the offers of His 
love ? Why will you put off a matter of such 
vital importance to you ? Remember your im- 
mortal soul is at stake, which is of more 
value than ten thousand worlds. 

u If for a world a soul be lost, 
What can the loss supply ? 

More than a thousand worlds it cost, 
A single soul to buy." 



64 Conclusion. 

And remember that your souls are immortal. 
deathless, and will live while eternal ages roll 
their cycles. This life, like a vapor, passes 
rapidly away ; bur short as it is, it is the only 
time we have to prepare for the eternal world. 

This question, my dear brethren, is of too 
serious a character to be trifled with. The 
• skeptic may scoff at the name of Jesus ; the 
blasphemer may blasjAeme His name, and the 
unbelieving Jew may deride Him, but these 
cannot obliterate the great truth written in God's 
holy word : "I and my Father are one.'' And 
again: ;, I am the resurrection and the life. 
He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, 
yet shall he live, and he that liveth and believeth 
in Me, shall never die." Jesus will take you 
just as you are, and cleanse you from all sin 
and all impurity. The thief on the cross cried 
unto Him, and was saved ; and Jesus said unto 
him: i% To-day shalt thou be with Me in 
paradise/' If the tears of contrition bedim 
your eyes, check them not, but let them flow. 

" Flow on my sad tears, ever flow, 
Let your fountains no longer be dry, 

Till Jesus His blood doth bestow, 

Till ruy heart to His love doth reply." 

The flowing of those tears arises from the 
softening process of the Holy Spirit, preparing 
your hearts for the reception of your Saviour's 
love ; love far surpassing that of a devoted 
mother's; steadfast as the rock of ages, and 
boundless as eternity. And can you refuse 



Conclusion. Co 

this love, so graciously offered and so generously 
given ? will you not yield to the persuasion of 
your Saviour ? That was first said to the Jews : 
"Son, give me thine heart/' And yielding 
your heart to Him, He will give you eternal life, 
a crown of glory, and a victor's palm. There 
is no preparation required on your part, only 
believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of 
God, the Saviour of the world, the Prince of 
Peace, and accept Him, and you will be saved. 
A few years ago, in England, an old sailor 
was going through the streets of a town there, 
singing : 

" I am a poor sinner, and nothing at all, 
But Jesus Christ is my all in all." 

There was a poor foolish fellow who heard the 
the sailor singing, and followed him through 
the streets ; his shattered mind grasped the 
words and retained them. A short time after- 
wards he was laid on a sick bed, and there he 



*■? 



sang 



" I am a poor sinner, and nothing at all, 
But Jesus Christ is my all in ail." 

In a f ew r days, he died, rejoicing in a Saviour' s 
love, and his last words were those he heard 
the old sailor singing in the street. And this 
must be our case. " Nothing at all." — We have 
no merit of ourselves ; there is no plea we can 
bring on our own behalf. " Nothing at all." — 
There is no price to pay for this great salvation, 
for Jesus paid it all on Calvary ; no sacrifice 



66 Conclusion. 

to make, for Jesus was the one great oblation. 
" Nothing at all," bat to come just as we are, 
for Jesus Christ is all in all. 

"Would you see the beauty of this Christian 
character portrayed in all its loveliness, go to 
the bedside of the languishing sufferer who has 
lain upon that couch for years, with limbs dis- 
torted and withered with disease ; look on that 
pallid countenance, and observe the peaceful 
smile, and ask yourself the reason, and see if 
you can find an answer to your question. The 
body may be racked by pain and sickness, but 
the soul filled with the presence of Jesus, feasts 
on the riches of His grace, and dwells in sweet 
serenity, awaiting only the dissolution of the 
clay tenement, 

"To clap its glad wings and soar away, 
And mingle with the blaze of day:" 

And this unspeakable happiness, my dear 
brethren, may be yours. Joy unbounded and 
full of glory. Won't you give your hearts to 
Jesus ? 

" Come in this moment at His call, 
And live for Him who died for all." 

May God bless you, is the prayer of your 
sincere friend. 

M. L. R. 



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